Unions Half-Price IfL Fee Deal
ATL, IfL, In The News, Unions, UNISON Wednesday, June 8th, 2011
The latest update from the Institute for Leaving (IfL) on fees has been published.
It seems that the IfL is not giving up without a fight and rather than smell the coffee they’ve brokered a deal that will see it retain union support in return for halving its annual tax from £68 to £38 (for a limited period of 2 years!).
This joke organisation wanted by none, and managed by a few desperate bureaucrats hoping to hold onto their lucrative positions simply doesn’t get it.
So, once more, here is the gripe:
It doesn’t matter how low the fees are, or how many compromises they make to lessen the burden on hourly and low-income staff, this organisation is and will always be an undemocratic imposition.
The IfL was not the idea of FE staff. Why would they want an organisation demanding money and 30 hours of CPD on top of the excessive teaching hours, shockingly low pay, stress and micro-management that they already have to put up with?!
An organisation created, manned and run by and accountable to FE staff is what the IfL should be. Instead it is and will remain a private, for-profit bureaucratic joke, albeit very, very unfunny.
Because of this, the Institute for Leaving will never gain the full support of the very staff it is supposed to represent.
There may be a commitment to professionalism, status, regulations, quality and reputation; there may be talk of accountability and relevance; of flexibility and diversity; of fairer fee policies; of future benefits for membership; but that is immaterial.
And there is not even a guarantee that the fee will no higher than £68 in 2013/14. So, in other words, hoping that the opposition will peter out, they are looking to make more profit again in a couple of years.
The unions (UNISON, ATL) also need to wise up. Yet again they have shown their true colours. Rather than supporting their many members against this joke, they seem to have taken the institutional view and fallen for the IfL’s sob story.
We however don’t believe that there is a problem with professionalism, standards or quality in FE.
Talking down the profession only serves specific bureaucratic and business interests, and the IfL is another example of a privately-run organisation that is seeking to profit from the Education Crisis Myth parroted by politicians and their business partners.
But in reality there is no problem with FE staff, as there is no problem with FE.
The only problem: IfL.